Exploring the mysteries surrounding the ancient art of building with massive stones

Megalithic mysteries around the world have long fascinated architect, author and editor, Vincent R. Lee. Building with gigantic blocks of stone was one of ancient mankind's earliest passions, so early in fact that their methods are now largely lost to us. Armed with an MFA in architecture from Princeton and decades of work around construction sites, Vince has traveled the world in search of answers to the question, "how'd they do it?"

From the huge, perfectly fitted boulders of Sacsawaman, the Inca "fortress" above Cuzco, Peru and the enigmatic "moai" statues of Easter Island to the enormous "Unfinished Obelisk" in the ancient quarries of Egypt, and the astounding "maxiliths" (the largest cut stones ever shaped) beneath the Roman ruins of Lebanon's Temple of Jupiter-Baal, Vince has found ample evidence of our ancestors' simple but ingenious answers to that question. His findings have been featured in various Discovery and History Channel television specials, as well as two segments of the NOVA series, "The Secrets of Lost Empires." Offered here are published versions of this work along with "How'd They Do It?", an educational game teachers and parents can use to develop young people's interest in science through miniaturized megalithic projects.

A new book proposing step-by-step solutions to the completion of four of the ancient world's most mind-boggling feats of megalithic construction: Inca "Sacsawaman"; "El Gigante"on Easter Island; the "Unfinished Obelisk" at Aswan, Egypt, and the world's largest dressed stone blocks at the Roman temple-site at Baalbek, Lebanon.

The Roman Ruins at Baalbek feature stones weighing 400 tons. Still awaiting transport from the nearby quarry is the famed "Stone of the South." Weighing in at 1200 tons, it was long thought to be the largest cut stone in the world until a previously buried 1500-ton stone was found nearby! How, and why, would such extraordinary structures be built? These works have been attributed to the Romans, but it may be possible to credit them instead to an unknown earlier culture with an ever grander structure in mind. This paper examines who did this incredible work, when, and why.

Researchers have long pondered the methods the inhabitants of Easter Island might have used to extract enormous stones from the quarry beneath the volcanic cone of Rano Raraku. Although still attached to bedrock in the quarry, "El Gigante," (The Giant) is a fully-formed statue which would have been the largest ever erected, standing 20 meters (66 feet) tall, likely crowned by a 40-ton pukao, with a weight estimated to be at least 270 tons. How the Giant might have been extracted, moved and erected using rudimentary methods is the subject of this study.

A fun and exciting new educational toy using a wide assortment of 93, color-coded wooden blocks enabling young people to replicate ancient feats of megalithic construction with models and learn the basic physics involved in a hands-on and interesting way.

The question of how the megalithic monuments of the New World were built has bedeviled researchers and tourists alike for centuries. This paper represents the most plausible and detailed solution to the problem yet published. Supplement to the author's original 1986 paper, entitled "The Building of Sacsayhuaman" also available here individually or as included in "The Building of Sacsayhuaman".

This paper describes the development and testing on Easter Island and final confirmation in Peru and Colorado of an entirely new method for moving large monoliths without the long gangs of pullers traditionally assumed necessary to the task.

This paper by Vincent R. Lee is of interest to anyone studying South American archaeology, discussing a new approach to the construction techniques used by ancient architects to fit the massive stones of Sacsayhuaman near Cuzco, Peru.

Those interested in the Inca, the Chachapoya or Andean archaeology in general should visit sixpacmanco.com, where they will find the author's reader-friendly full-length book, "Forgotten Vilcabamba, Final Stronghold of the Incas" as well as an assortment of more technical papers dealing with a wide range of archaeological subjects. By popular demand, Vince's first book, titled "Sixpac Manco: Travels Among the Incas," long out of print and something of a collector's item among Vilcabamba buffs, is now back and available here!